Glowsun are a three piece heavy psych band based out of Lille, France. They’re a recent addition to the Napalm Records roster. Having released two full lengths filled with stoner vibes before, with their most recent album ‘Beyond the Wall of Time’,Glowsun are putting out some of the tightest stoner psych out there.

“Sleip∙nir -(slāp’nir)Odin’s eight-legged steed, and the greatest of all horses. The offspring of Loki and the gray stallion Svadilfari, Sleipnir, the swiftest on the earth could bear Odin over sea, through the air, and to and from the land of the dead.” The reason I start the review with this quote from the band’s Facebook page is that it represents the music of The Flight Of Sleipnir very well. Listening to this album is what it must feel like to sit on the back of Sleipnir and journey over the landscapes of Scandinavia.

Post 2010, stoner metal has seen a revival of the genre due to the spurge in huge number of bands emerging and quite a number of them worth listening to actually. Following the footsteps of the big names like Orange Goblin and Fu Manchu comes another refreshing stoner band, Lonely Kamel. While its easy to compare them to the big names, these Norway desert rockers have something new to offer to the seasoned listeners.

This band has a palette that is unmistakably a smorgasbord of flavors and variables that brings out great depth and solid power within their music. Gormathon with their latest album ‘Following the Beast’ is a jammed mix of elements from a various number of bands that could be noticed while cycling through their songs. It’s as if the bands Tyr, Amon Amarth, Judas Priest, Suidakra and Holy Grail played multiple sections one by one and at varying intervals and sometimes even melding with the mix to create an authentic and original sound that echoes through like thunder in a storm, slow paced and powerful music pushed forth out in the open.

Power metal is a subgenre widely known for its playful flirtation with fantasy related themes and imagery. As with most fantasy related art, the success lies in finding the balance between cheerful exaggeration and affecting embellishment. On ‘Kings Among Men’,Crimson Shadows deftly maintains this balance while channeling the musical imprints of bands ranging from Dragonforce to Amon Amarth.